July Jamm is done after this weekend. A lot of Lincolnites are mourning the loss of a big community event, but they don't mourn the loss of July Jamm itself. Why do you think that is? Why is July Jamm seen as unfriendly (admission fees, fences make attendees feel like cattle), while Ribfest remains so popular?
And the big question: how would you design a community festival to replace July Jamm?
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I guess it’s all about perceived value. Music (the arts) are always a tougher sell than ribs (food).
Interesting how you mention the fences. I was wondering if anyone else felt a little weirded-out about that. In cities I have lived in before that have outdoor music festival types of events, I have not seen the fenced-in approach that Lincoln takes to these things. In my opinion it seems to contradict the whole idea of a community event that is open to all. Why do they do that?
Additionally, I wonder if location plays an issue here. This gets back to your earlier post about the centennial mall. It would be much nicer if you could have the concert on a green space where people have the option of sitting and lounging around while listening to music, instead of being jam packed into a street. I realize that the idea is to align events with downtown, but when there aren
Our office went to July Jamm for lunch on Friday. It didn’t take us long to figure out why it’s done for. Not too many people we know would want to pay $7 for the right to buy over-priced food and drink that, for the most part, we can get any day of the week. We went for lunch because Friday was a nice day and because there was no addmission, but none of us planned to come back for the evening. Maybe if there were some big-name music acts, ones that we couldn’t see at a local bar most any weekend, we’d get more excited. Ribfest works because the addmission is nominal and you get to experience food from vendors that you normally don’t get to try. And oh yeah, the whole buying tickets versus paying each vendor cash at July Jamm is royal pain.
As for the whole fenced in thing, July Jamm is a fund raiser, if I’m not mistaken, for the Updowntowners. Kinda hard to raise money through addmission without fences. If Lincoln’s corporate community wanted to sponsor a true community event for the pure enjoyment of the community, I guess there would be no need for fences. I’ve been to plenty of similar events in other cities, Summerfest in Milwaukee, for expample. Fences don’t seem all that weird, or uncommon.
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